Macomb Township man sentenced to 30 years on porn charges

A Macomb Township man who made and traded hundreds of images of child pornography including some of a 3-year-old relative was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Thomas Wooten, 33, also will serve 15 years of supervised release once his prison term is over, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in a news release.

Wooten was found guilty in December of charges of producing and distributing child porn and sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani in Detroit.

Court records show investigators who searched his home in 2010 found more than 1,500 child pornographic images and 100 videos of prepubescent minors. Among those was a video of Wooten sexually abusing a 3-year-old girl, according to court documents.

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“These despicable crimes victimize and exploit innocent children,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Foley III said in a statement. “The FBI is committed to the arrest and prosecution of criminals who engage in such deplorable, heinous behavior.”

According to prosecutors, evidence at trial showed that Wooten produced and distributed on the Internet pornographic images of the 3-year-old girl, including a video of her engaging in a sexual act with Wooten. He also downloaded and collected hundreds of child pornographic images and videos, some of which he obtained by trading the images he created.

The FBI opened an investigation into Wooten after they came across an email he sent to another child pornography suspect in Indiana who was being investigated for similar actions. The email contained 11 images of prepubescent girls in sexual poses.

Records show Wooten claimed he had collected the vast amount of child porn to turn them over to law enforcement, an assertion prosecutors labeled “ridiculous.” He had many of the images stored on a thumb drive hidden in his bedroom, behind a dresser.

“Regrettably, the Internet provides child predators with a ready market for child pornography, but also helps us to rescue children who are being sexually abused,” McQuade said in a statement.

Wooten has prior convictions for disorderly conduct, felonious assault, malicious destruction of property, operating under the influence of liquor, and careless driving.

Federal prosecutors said local charges are expected to be filed against him for first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving the same 3-year-old victim, second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a separate victim, and sexually abusive material.